Number of replicates required to accurately evaluate the productivity and soluble solids in melon hybrids of the Inodorus group

Abstract

Determining the number of replicates required to produce statistically testable results based on previously conducted tests is important to minimize labor costs via the use of existing information. The objective of this work was to determine the number of repetitions necessary to evaluate the characters of productivity and soluble solids in hybrids of two types of Inodorus melons. The study consisted of 20 experiments: 12 evaluated 10 hybrids of honeydew melons and 8 evaluated 13 hybrids of yellow melons. The experimental design consisted of randomized blocks with three replicates. Analysis of variance was performed to estimate the repeatability and genotypic determination coefficients. Variability in accurately predicting the genotype was observed for different number of repetitions between the evaluated characters and melon types. In the yellow melon, experiments with three repetitions allowed the accurate identification of superior genotypes with 81.1 and 61.9% certainty for productivity and soluble solids, respectively. In the honeydew melon, 62.4 and 71.2% accuracy was obtained for productivity and soluble solids, respectively.

Keywords

• Cucumis melo L.; experimental planning; experimental precision; repeatability.